Worth It?
by Nemrut
Summary: Naruto has become Hokage, but was it worth the trouble? One-Shot.


I don't own Naruto and I probably never will. Enjoy.

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Naruto had been Hokage for two months now and to his huge disappointment he wasn't enjoying it as much as he thought he would. Sure, the villagers, or at least most of them, were respecting him and he was definitely acknowledged and not only as the strongest ninja of the village but also as one of them but as a whole, it was very dull job.

Even though he had practically known that the Hokage wasn't facing dangerous enemies every day and defended the village heroically he was still baffled how little fighting he actually did.

This was to say, only with Shizune, who forced him to do more paperwork and his score was currently three hundred thirty five to zero. How that woman was not S-class herself with that speed and sensing abilities he had no idea.

Would he still have strived for that job if he had known that the work of a Hokage entailed ninety-five percent paperwork and five percent everything else? Probably yes, it felt damn good to be the one giving orders and seeing how everyone obeyed them.

But before that, even his appointment had been a bit shaky as it had taken two solid days for the council with the Fire Lord to declare him as the next Hokage. It wasn't the amount choices which had taken so long, the only two candidates were him and Kakashi and the copy ninja had said very clearly that he could never be the Hokage as that would mean to surpass both his teacher and father, something he never accomplished and as such didn't see himself worthy of that post since he also failed all of his teams countless times.

Tsunade had asked him if he used that tear jerking excuse to cover up the fact that he would not have the time to read his precious books if he would accept the job, which resulted in Kakashi calling the Fifth a cold hearted hag who could not appreciate fine literature and did the smart thing of using the fastest body flicker since the Fourth to get the hell out of there, leaving Naruto alone in front of an annoyed Tsunade and an unimpressed council.

So he was appointed Hokage right, no problems? Wrong, right before the Fire Lord declared his new title one of the council members interfered, saying that they could not make him the Seventh Hokage since Danzo hardly qualified as the Sixth and as such Naruto should be declared as the Sixth. Shikaku countered that by all means, however poorly Danzo had handled that situation he had been the Hokage, even if it was for two days.

In hindsight Naruto could have handled the situation better than snapping at them, telling that no one cared as long as he actually was Hokage.

It took one day and a half of heated discussion until Naruto, with saint like patience, as he sat through numerous suggestions, ranging from flipping a coin (Tsunade), to voting (Shikaku) and making him both, the Sixth and Seventh at the same time (some nutcase whom he had fired as his first act of being Hokage) made the suggestion of him being the Sixth since otherwise they had to carve Danzo's face on the monument too and not only would it be very expensive, it also would look very ugly and the Fire Lord, praising his genius, promptly made it official.

Thinking back, the only genius in that room had been Kakashi for getting the hell out of there as soon as he could. He was not stuck to sit in the office all day, going through paperwork, arguing with Sakura, who somehow had become his unofficial assistant. At first he had been delighted but now, two months later, it was like hell.

She was constantly harping and nagging about something, telling him how to do stuff, not to do other things or be "more respectable", whatever that meant. Shizune, his official assistant, had explained to Naruto that Sakura might take a while until she fully realized that Naruto was her superior now and that she would adapt, given enough time.

Naruto had responded by asking if that would happen before or after Kurenai's kid would take his Jonin exam.

So right now he was sitting in front of his desk, looking through the drawers in the faint hope of finding some leftover sake from Tsunade's time, who had now seized full control of the hospital and spend most of her day there, training medics and drinking enough alcohol to poison a normal shinobi.

It was a fools hope at best, knowing that Tsunade had cleared this office very happily (and very drunk) laughing at him, calling him a sucker and practically dancing out of the room. That probably should have tipped him off that this job was not that much fun.

As expected he did not find anything, so he continued his duty; filling out countless forms, responding to a very suggestive letter from the Mizukage who was starting to become his most favorite Kage even though he had to write her on the behalf of the Hyuuga clan who wanted the eye back, which her top Jonin currently possessed and turning down another three requests of going after Sasuke, two of them written by Sakura.

Naruto knew that going after him would not mean anything. In the final fight against Madara the strange mind control the ancient Uchiha had put on Sasuke broke and the two had taken him out together. After the fight Sasuke had explained that his beef was only with the two elders and Danzo. Naruto had told him to be the better person and let it go and leave them to be punished by the Hokage. Sasuke had responded by telling him that he was not as good a person as Naruto and he had already killed them anyways.

Well, Naruto hadn't been that sad, nobody would really miss the two former teammates of the Hokage, nobody who counts anyway and he personally would piss on Danzo's corpse if given the chance. Heck, maybe he and Sasuke could have an annual meeting where they would get drunk and defile Danzo's grave.

Anyways, Sasuke said that he would be more trouble than worth if he were to return and he didn't want to anyway. The Uchiha clan had been finished with Konoha and he felt had the obligation of staying away from it. Now he could take care of the second part of his goal, rebuilding his clan.

At the question whether or not he wanted Sakura for that Sasuke's reply had been laughter, genuine, cruel and honest laughter. They had bumped fists and went different ways after Sasuke had given him two messages to pass onto Sakura and Kakashi.

Delivering said messages had been not so much fun as Sakura still insisted on going after Sasuke and apparently thought that "I won't come back, stay away from me or suffer the painful consequences!" was a silent plea for help.

He was halfway tempted to let her go after him, seeing that he understood her pain, but he wasn't too sure whether or not Sasuke would actually hurt her and he didn't want to go after the Uchiha for hurting Sakura.

So it had taken Kakashi and Tsunade to talk her out of that until she had understood that going after him was considered a betrayal at the village since Sasuke was still a criminal wanted by all shinobi nations, including Konoha.

As he happily declined those requests Shizune entered the room, looking exasperated.

"Sakura is here and asks for an audience."

Naruto sighed and nodded and watched as Shizune let Sakura in and closed the door. Sakura,

once again, had that expression on her face that promised that she was prepared to passionately argue her point until nothing would make sense anymore.

"What can I do for you Sakura-chan?" he asked, "I hope it is not another request for going after Sasuke as I have just declined those other two you have send…"

"No it is not about Sasuke-kun." Responded the pink haired kunoichi, "I wanted to ask why you have shortened the personal of the hospital, we barely had enough before."

"You know why, Sakura-chan. We are rebuilding a village and as important as the hospital is, with Gran-…Tsunade-sama there who can handle most things we could reassign them to places where they are needed more."

It was true, Konoha may been mostly rebuild, with the combined power of Yamato and his army of Shadow Clones it had taken only three weeks to rebuild most of the houses. What took so long was rebuilding the walls and the defenses like the sensor field around the village, with a few additional traps courtesy of Shikamaru who had devised an ingenious parameter of death traps which could be triggered through simple seals.

He did feel bad for forcing him to work that hard but he knew that Shikamaru would enjoy the next few Ino-free weeks as he had send her and that weird deciphering girl, as payment for Shikamaru's outstanding work to the Sand instead of the Nara which freed him from all three girls for a longer period of time.

He would have never believed that Shikamaru would be the one of all people who would have this kind of girl troubles.

"So you thought it would be more important to rebuild Ichiraku's rather than helping the sick people in the hospital?" asked Sakura incredulously.

"I believe the people will feel a lot better once they know that Ichiraku's is standing again, it gives them hope in dark times and helps them endure the hardships of life."

"Naruto-sama," sighed Shizune, who was now standing next to him, "that is just you and maybe Chouji-kun."

"Anyways there are only two people who are working there, the rest is working on the wall. I seriously don't know what there is to complain about. You are not understaffed."

"You can't put the priority of a Ramen stand above that of an hospital." scolded Sakura. "You are always this thoughtless Naruto, how can we expect you to lead this village on your own. I knew Tsunade-sama shouldn't have quit."

Naruto had already tuned out as he saw how Sakura's lips were constantly moving. It had been bad when he had to endure this kind of scolding when they were a team but now it was getting ridiculous. He wasn't some dumb kid anymore, he was the Hokage now and it was time that Sakura learned that.

"…ruto, Naruto, NARTUO!"

He snapped out of his thoughts as Sakura had raised her voice until she was yelling again.  
"Are you even listening to me?" she asked menacingly, her eyes narrowed dangerously. Unfortunately for her, Naruto was hardly intimidated. He had looked in the eyes Itachi, Sasuke, Tsunade and that one hooker he and Jiraya had helped during his training trip and all of them could glare more dangerously than Sakura ever could.

"No Sakura, "he said sharply, "I am not, I am extremely busy and I have enough on my mind, even without your constant harping and nagging. If you don't have anything else to say I have to ask you to leave since we both have a lot of work to do."

Sakura reddened with fury, how dare he, how dare Naruto talk that way to her. Just because he was Hokage now didn't mean he could talk to her like that. Without realizing Sakura had raised her fist and jumped towards the Hokage screaming "NARUUTOOOO!", fully intending to punch him as she always did.

But not this time, as soon as her feet left the ground, a gloved hand had grabbed her wrist and slammed her to the ground by using the momentum of her jump, a knee pressed tightly against her hands, pinning them effectively on her back and a kunai was hold against her throat. ANBU had always been reliable.

"You should not have done that, Haruno-san." said the strangely familiar female voice of the ANBU. "Assaulting the Hokage is a heinous crime which can only be washed clean with your blood"

Sakura, her heart beating incredibly fast, looked quite fearful.

"I-I am sorry, I forgot myself, I would never hurt Naruto. Can you let go of me please?"

"Well, I could," admitted the ANBU, "But that would ruin today's lesson."

"What lesson?" asked Sakura, her voice wavering.

"There are three actually, the first is called 'just because the Hokage is such a nice guy, doesn't mean I am allowed to take my aggressions out of him. The second is "Just because I know the Hokage before he became the Hokage, doesn't mean I am allowed to be disrespectful towards him" and last "just because the Hokage is too considerate to say it out loud, doesn't mean I can disobey his orders". Now tell me Haruno-san, have you learned today's lessons?"

Sakura gulped and nodded weakly.

"Good, I was told you were a first-class student so I hope we won't be having this kind of lesson again, do we Haruno-san?"

"No." croaked Sakura, as the kunai was pressed firmer and firmer against her throat, now actually drawing blood.

"Fantastic." The ANBU released her and Sakura's eyes immediately sought Naruto's who was looking more amused than anything else.

"Thanks Sakura," he said, "that was all, you may go."

Sakura, unable to look at Naruto any longer turned around and left the room, leaving the ANBU, Naruto and Shizune alone.

"Can you excuse us, Shizune-neechan?"

"Naruto-sama, it is not proper for you to call me like that while you call the Council bastards to their face." Said Shizune weakly, already going out.

"it is because I respect you a lot more than anyone from them Shizune-neechan" grinned Naruto and watched how Shizune closed the door, while shaking her head.

"I never knew you were that good of a teacher ANBU-chan."

"I always liked teaching Hokage-sama."

Naruto's grin widened. "Maybe you can teach me a few things as well, what do you say ANBU-chan?"

ANBU-chan took off her mask and walked towards the Hokage and placed herself on his lap.

"I would be glad to teach you if you are willing to learn Hokage-sama" she said haughtily and pressed her lips softly against his.

"Damnit Hinata-chan, I would have never thought two months of ANBU training would be that effective."

Yeah, being Hokage is definitely worth it.

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So that was my first NaruHina one shot, I have never written "romance" like this before. I hope it turned out halfway good.


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